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joewein.de LLC
fighting spam and scams on the Internet
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"419" Scam – Advance Fee / Fake Lottery Scam
The so-called "419" scam is a type of fraud dominated by criminals from Nigeria and other countries in Africa. Victims of the scam are promised a large amount of money, such as a lottery prize, inheritance, money sitting in some bank account, etc.
Victims never receive this non-existent fortune but are tricked into sending their money to the criminals, who remain anonymous. They hide their real identity and location by using fake names and fake postal addresses as well as communicating via anonymous free email accounts and mobile phones.
Keep in mind that scammers DO NOT use their real names when defrauding people.
The criminals either abuse names of real people or companies or invent names or addresses.
Any real people or companies mentioned below have NO CONNECTION to the scammers!
Read more about such scams here or in our 419 FAQ. Use the Scam-O-Matic to verify suspect emails.
Click here to report a problem with this page.
Some comments by the Scam-O-Matic about the following email:
- This email uses a separate reply address that is different from the sender address. Spammers use this to get replies even when the original spam sending accounts have been shut down. Also, sometimes the sender addresses are legitimate looking but fake and only the reply address is actually an email account controlled by the scammers.
- The following phrases in this message should put you on alert:
- "00,000.00" (they want you to be blinded by the prospect of quick money, but the only money that ever changes hands in 419 scams is from you to the criminals)
- "you are advice to " (this email uses bad English)
- "economic and financial crimes commission" (This name is often mentioned in money recovery scams (re-scam): the real EFCC does not contact victims to offer to get their money back because that is near impossible. )
- "(efcc)" (This name is often mentioned in money recovery scams (re-scam): the real EFCC does not contact victims to offer to get their money back because that is near impossible. )
- "barrister" (Barristers (lawyers) mentioned in 419 scams are always fake.)
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
- Barristers (lawyers) mentioned in 419 scams are always fake.
Fraud email example:
From: Andy Christopher <fsfgho@yahoo.pt>
Reply-To: Andy Christopher <efccservice@yahoo.co.uk>
Date: Fri, 16 Jan 2015 08:13:12 +0000 (UTC)
Subject: Hello Beneficiary your money is available
 Hello Beneficiary your money is available
Do you have any unfinished transaction in Africa? we tracked down and arrested many scam Artists who claimed to be Barristers, President, Bank officials and Agents. this mail is been directed to you because your information was found in there computer hard disk in our custody. We discovered so much funds from them and United Nation Anti-crime commission ordered the money recovered to be paid to rightful owners.
You are therefore being compensated with the total sum $ I.500,000.00 Dollars to balance part of your total contract funds and fees being robbed. We (ECONOMIC & FINANCIAL CRIME COMMISSION (EFCC) have been working towards the eradication of fraudsters and scam Artists in Western part of Africa. So you are advice to provide the information below to enable Bank start the process of your payment.
1)YOUR FULL NAME.
2)YOUR FULL ADDRESS/ COUNTRY.
3)YOUR TELEPHONE NUMBER.
We guarantee you 100% safety and wish you the best of luck. NOTE: If you are been contact by anyone to send anymore fee kindly forward it to us And stop any further communication with those fraudster for your own safety.
Best Regards,
Mr.Andy Christopher
Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
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Anti-fraud resources:
